Thrushes | Turdidae

Lijsters | Zorzales y mirlos

Medium-sized birds with an upright carriage, long strong legs and a moderately long, slender bill. On the ground they work in short stages: a few hops, a halt to look and listen, then a strike. They also eat much fruit. The nest is a solid cup, in many species plastered inside with mud; young birds are spotted even where the adults are plain. Twenty species live in the region. The red-legged thrushes of the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas are common, and there are also island species such as La Selle Thrush of Hispaniola, two thrushes of its own on Jamaica and Forest Thrush of several Lesser Antilles. The solitaires, with their clear, fluting song, live in mountain forests of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and some Lesser Antilles. Spectacled Thrush occurs in the southern Lesser Antilles and Trinidad, where South American thrushes also live. North American Catharus thrushes pass through; Bicknell's Thrush winters mainly on Hispaniola.